On our day off, we decided to venture into Milan to find a waterpark!
The Journey to Find the Waterpark
Long, and difficult. We arrived in Milan by train (40 minute ride) and began asking for directions to "Gardaland." Everyone we asked responded with something different, so we became easily confused. Finally, one bus agent clarified the difference between "gardaland" and "gardaland waterpark," which are in two different towns. He wrote down the directions for us in broken english for the subway/metro and we bought a subway ticket for 1 euro. We took the subway to a town in Milan called "Primatoccia." There, we waited for the public bus in hopes it would take us to the waterpark. When we got on the bus I asked the busdriver what stop we needed to get off, he mumbled something I didn't understand and I took a seat. After a few minutes, I realized I should probably clarify and asked him again. Our stop was next!
When we got off the bus, we looked around at the very empty, residential/nothing town around us. We were in the middle of nowhere! We began walking, ran into a chicken on the road, passed a very stinky barn and eventually ran into a dead end with a highway! We looked to the right of the highway -- Nothing. We looked to the left of the highway -- Gardaland Waterpark Sign!
Our Day at the Waterpark
Tickets were 12.50 euros for a half day (we arrived at 3 p.m.). We were greeted with a smile upon entering and directed to the "dressing rooms" to change (small closet sized stalls outside). We checked our bags in the "guardaroba" for 3 euros and headed to the park! It was awesome! There were so many different pools, lazy rivers, crazy rivers, water slides, tubes, a children's pirate cove, singing & dancing... everything you can imagine! [click for photo] We started by cooling off in a pool and headed right to the first waterslide. Much to our surprise, it was faster than it looked and we slid very quickly to the bottom with no way to slow down and water in our noses! It was fun, be we opted for a slower, more windy slide next time around. We spent a few hours just swimming, going down the slides, being splashed by giant buckets of water, and using the tubes to go through the crazy river! It was such a fun day :-). We also bought some ice cream while we were there because we just couldn't resist haha.
The Journey Home
After all of the confusion in finding the park, we figured it should be easier to get back. We were directed to a different bus stop by someone at the waterpark, we hopped on and it stopped for 25 minutes at the next stop! It was the end of the loop, so we had to wait for it to turn back towards Primatoccia where we got on. From there, things worked out smoothly until we got to the Milan train station. We arrived and bought our tickets only moments before the train was to depart at 7:30 p.m. We waited and waited and waited on the train until it finally departed around 8:15 .. It was delayed because of a train ahead of us having problems. So, when we finally arrived into Varese at 9:15 we were shocked to find that our bus to the farm was no longer running! The last pick up was 8:58 and its the only bus that passes the farm! So, we asked some strangers to borrow their phone & called barbara to see if someone could pick us up in town! Thankfully, her mother, Rita, came to get us & we didn't have to even walk down the mosquito-filled, dark, rocky driveway! Yay
It all worked out in the end and the day was wonderful :-) I'm so happy we made it to the waterpark! :-)
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